How do predecessor influences attract young people on Tiktok?

2023-07-22 13:55:23

The news titled “How do predecessor phenomena attract young people on Tiktok through Germany?” in Der Standard Newspaper showed once again what kind of a problem Muslim youth who speak German and do not speak their mother tongue or cannot speak well face in Germany and Austria. Dozens of people in Germany and Austria were killed by the Salafist terrorists close to DAESH, like a massacre. It still allows Salafi Muslim propaganda and mosques in Germany and Austria. The situation in Turkey is even more deplorable.

The news published in Der Standard is as follows:

How do predecessor influences attract young people on Tiktok?

Anna Giulia Fink Jan Michael Marchart, 22. Jul. 2023, Der Standard.

Its predecessor Tiktokists are like the stars of the stage. A young suspect allegedly planning an attack on the Vienna Pride Parade was among his predecessor Tiktok followers.

These are small and at the same time huge questions of daily life for Muslim youth. The questions they ask are on Tiktok: ‘Is it allowed for a man to wear a necklace? Another is: “Is oral sex allowed?” Or: “Is pork really not allowed and is it okay to eat fish-mac?”

On social media, young Muslims and Muslims are increasingly seeking advice and advice on how to find their way in Christian-Western society with their Islamic beliefs. Salafists get answers to this, especially in short videos on Tiktok. Oftentimes, it is these Salafist Tiktoks that they encounter with accounts that seem harmless at first but open the door to a world where young people can quickly be driven to radicalism.

Salafist preachers like Ibrahim Al-Azzazi answer all kinds of questions on Tiktok. It’s not always about religion. Sometimes it’s also about the best type of iced tea. This makes Salafist channels seem harmless at first. But ultra-conservative worldviews are not far off. Tiktok-Screenshot

One of them is Ahmad Armih, a.k.a. Ahmad Abu Baraa. Baraa is a preacher of Palestinian origin living in Germany. She is in her early fifties, she does not give her exact age. Baraa became a leading authority on Islamic issues in the German-speaking world. Videos of Baraa also flashed on the mobile phone screen of the 14-year-old teenager, who was suspected of planning a terrorist attack on the Vienna Rainbow Parade as part of a group of three suspected jihadists. This is how the suspect described the incident during the police interrogation. Baraa and other German Salafists now have considerable reach in Austria as well. They all speak German. like their mother tongue.

Salafists represent a small minority within Islam. Their ideologies are considered extremist, evoking the ideas of a legal scholar from the Middle Ages. This radical interpretation often provides the intellectual grounding for the jihadists’ armed struggle. For example, young Europeans who set out to join the “Islamic State” (IS) terrorist organization in Syria since 2014 were largely from the Salafist spectrum. The Internet played an important role in their radicalization.

Baraa was once a preacher at a closed mosque in Berlin and was one of the main focal points of Salafist circles in Germany. Rapper „Deso Dogg“, nicknamed Denis Cuspert, who later became an ISIS terrorist, also performed here. Baraa currently operates in a mosque in Braunschweig, Lower Saxony, where Salafist greats such as Ibrahim El-Azzazi and Pierre Vogel have also performed. All three are monitored by the German Office for the Protection of the Constitution. They are also unknown in Austria.

Holidays and eyebrows

For Tiktok Salafists like Baraa, the recipe for success seems simple. Young Muslims ask them questions. The preachers pick and answer some of them – in German, occasionally using Arabic terms such as “Fisk” for those who break Islamic law.

Predecessor Influencers on Tiktok: From Germany Y Collective released a longer documentary on the subject. You can watch above.

In one of his latest videos, under the hashtag „Islam“ or „For you“, Baraa touches on the topic: „Your holiday – pleasure or punishment?“

The recording begins with this question, before Baraa’s one-and-a-half-minute answer: „The problem is neither the beach, nor the water, nor the fishes. “The problem,” says Baraa, raising his arm and forefinger, “is that you are in an environment where people are naked, regardless of Allah Subhana Wa Taala”.. Allah to whom Baraa added an extra praise. solution for him. He interprets God with his own theology and interpretation. Baraa wears a dark ruffled beard, a black prayer cap, and a white caftan. Soft chants play in the background. He lists the so-called problems on the beaches as follows: “naked flesh of both men and women”, “alcohol sometimes, not a little”, “desecration” and “public sins”.

Abul Baraa’s videos are currently circulating on many different Tiktok accounts.

Baraa speaks in a calm tone, gesturing and always wearing a smile that alternates between knowing and lecturing.

She has around 43,000 followers on Tiktok and is also featured on Instagram and YouTube. The video with the holiday question included emojis showing the word ‘Hakk’ meaning ‘truth’ in Arabic or the Kaaba, the Black Stone building in the courtyard of the mosque in Mecca, the central shrine of Islam. viewed more than One user writes: „I saw this video just before I flew in.“ Someone replies: „Is it a sign, akhi“, Akhi means „brother“.

Baraa makes a harsh but also pleasant impression on the record – more of a friend than a radical preacher. It can also be humorous. For example, when asked if it is permissible to shave his eyebrows in a mosque, he said: “They have been there before, why do you take them off and then pull them in?

Absolute prohibitions and prohibitions

This is also due to the way the algorithm works on social media. Those who stay in Baraa’s accounts for a long time soon see images of the preacher uploaded by others. A video shows him in an angry mood: “Shame on you!” Baraa shouts to his audience. “Kaffirs”, that is, infidels, “enter our countries and kill Muslims and you still love them. They kill your sister, they kill your father, they rape your sister.”

However, Tiktok Salafists do not only target Muslims who are already praying. They also offer an online conversion program that can be completed via smartphones. They also offer pilgrimages to Saudi Arabia, where the famous German-born Salafi Vogel or Baraa was a companion.

(Der Standart, Anna Giulia Fink, Jan Michael Marchart, 21.7.2023)